


Snickerdoodles

by sunalso



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hints of Spuffy - Freeform, not comic compliant, nothing's better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-07-11 01:55:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7020973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunalso/pseuds/sunalso
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Angel finds out what happens when Buffy is done baking.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snickerdoodles

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gort](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gort/gifts).



Angel trudged into the lobby of the old hotel. It was quiet. It was always quiet. How had things gone so terribly wrong? Everyone dead or gone. Except him. He still fought the good fight against the forces of evil that were always threatening to overwhelm the city. And he was used to being lonely. He’d been wrong to make friends and drag them into the morass that was his destiny. He should never have fallen in love.

He pushed into his office, heading for the fridge in the corner for a late dinner. There was a faint rustle from behind him. Angel froze. Someone else was in the office. A slow and steady heartbeat thumped steadily behind him. Whoever it was certainly wasn’t afraid of being in the dark with a vampire. There was a crinkle, followed by a crunch and the sound of chewing. The scent of sugar and cinnamon hit his nose.

“I know you’re there,” Angel said. He spun around as his vamp face emerged.

“I’m aware.” The intruder sounded bored.

“B-Buffy?” He asked, perplexed to find the love of his life standing in his dark office. She was dressed entirely in black with utilitarian boots on her feet. Her eyes where rimmed with thick dark kohl. It looked like she’d been crying. Her hair was shorn so short she was nearly bald. The loss of her signature blonde tresses made him uneasy. “What did you do to your hair?”

The girl sighed. “No one cared about it anymore and it was just getting in the way.” She took a step forward. There was a ziplock bag hanging from one hand.

Angel frowned. “Are those…cookies?”

“Yeah. Snickerdoodles. I got done with the baking.” She reached into the bag, pulled one out, and took a large bite. Crumbs ended up on the front of her shirt but she didn’t bother brushing them away.

Over and over again Angel had imagined Buffy turning up and saying she was no longer cookie dough. None of those scenarios had been this somber. In his daydreams she’d always been bubbly and happy to see him.

“So, what brings you to L.A.?” he asked while scratching an invented itch on his chin.

“Oh, you know.” She waved the cookie at him. “A little green bird told me that more than a year ago someone I cared about turned up in your office and you didn’t call me. That he almost got sucked into hell. And you didn’t call me. That he was no longer a ghost. And you didn’t call me. That you thought the world was going to end. And you didn’t call me. That he died again in a dirty alley. And you still didn’t call me.” She shrugged. “Stuff like that.” The cookie went into her mouth. She chewed and swallowed while staring at him.

“He could have called you. It didn’t have to be me.”

“Sure. After you spent months poisoning his mind about how I didn’t want him and how he should move on. While you were having me followed. Though I might add she was a decoy so jokes on you.”

“Oh.” Angel’s mind was racing. Buffy didn’t seem angry. Her face was flat and her heartbeat remained at the same steady rhythm, but something was off. She was just…wrong. 

“Are you here to help?” He asked hopefully. Maybe he could get her talking about something besides his idiot Grandchilde. Seeing her here like this just proved his theory that the boy had been terrible for her.

“Yup.” She closed her eyes for a second. “I’m here to help you.”

Angel smiled broadly and managed to shake off his demon. “Oh, Buffy, I knew you’d come back to me.” He held his arms open wide. No matter how upset or broken she was, he knew he could make her feel better. The Slayer’s lips curled up into something like a smile. She moved quickly towards him. By the time he saw the stake in her hand it was too late.

The pointed wood slipped in smooth as silk. “Tell Spike I’ll see him soon.”

****

Buffy looked at the pile of dust on the ground. She couldn’t bring herself to feel anything about it. With a sigh she dropped her bag of cookies on the heap. Little clouds of ash drifted lazily away.

It was one more thing checked off her list.

Not many more now and she could find her peace.


End file.
